Summoner
One of the several guests from Doom 4, the Summoner is a demon witch that specializes in rapid unit deployment. The Summoner is the second Black Magic Arcanist after the Arch-Vile, and the female that forms a couple with the Harvester. Tactics and Behavior The Summoner is a demon of distinctive appearance. She has a slender figure, red skin covered with pale-purple epidermis plates, a prominent arch-like bone plate on top of the cranium, and a pair of tail-flaps that seem to function as wings. The Summoner levitates at all times. Her vocal sounds consist of various shrieks, and her magic is specifically red-colored, making her easy to detect from far away visually and audibly. When a Summoner is awoken, she will emerge from a portal formed in the ground - she cannot be harmed during this sequence. The Summoner's combat role is mainly a mixture of support and debuff tactics, but she can take on an offensive just as well. Her main attack is a red energy wave. It travels very fast, making it quite difficult to dodge even if spotted beforehand. It also hurts a lot, and may kill an unarmored player in about 3 hits. Up close, the Summoner will execute an energy blast attack as her melee attack equivalent, that is even faster and stronger than the standard one - keep your distance from the witch. The first energy wave attack has a special trait: it causes a slowdown effect even if the player gets hit by its splash damage, halving movement speed for 2 seconds. If caught out in open under this effect, this is most likely a death sentence (especially when fighting other powerful enemies alongside the Summoner), as the player will have practically no ability to evade the following attacks. The biggest threat the Summoner poses is the eponymous summoning ability. For that, the Summoner will stop in place and take a pose with her arms spread above her head, channelling what it seems a micro version of a Multiverse Portal, making it leak spawner orbs from it, which upon the touch with the ground, will bring a foe from Hell. Per each casting, she can bring forth a horde of upwards of 50 demons (the exact number is randomized). The choice of summoned demons varies, but is limited to low-tier and mid-tier: the weakest that can appear is an Imp, and the strongest will be a Hellknight. After all demons have been materialized, the Summoner will resume the hostilities as well, while shielded from your sight by the numerous demons of her making. Due to their numbers and concentrated formations (always surrounding the Summoner upon spawn), the summoned demons pose an extreme danger if you cannot retreat in time. Inside limited spaces, they might be manageable as they will unable to attack you all at once, but in an open environment you will be swarmed in no time, which is a fatal prospect. Even if you are able to contain the horde, the Summoner will still be out there, using her minions as an enormous meatshield while you are wasting heaps of ammo to get rid of them all. Therefore, it is paramount to dispose of the Summoner as soon as possible, before she gets a chance to deliver additional demons to trouble you with. Killing a Summoner quickly is not easy. Her durability is moderate, but she is a difficult target because of her extremely high movement speed, as she prefers to zap around under the Spectrum travel (manifesting as the streaks of red lightning in her case), which disables her hitbox from receiving damage or colliding with projectiles and solid actors (and also allows her to relocate on another floor). She stops only to cast one of her attacks, so you will need good reflexes to catch her. For that, the Railgun may prove useful at longer ranges. At closer ranges, use the BFG10k, the Lightning Gun or the Chaingun to overpower her before she makes a mess out of the battlefield. She may appear too fast for the eye, but with keen sight you will be able to track her Spectral trail and pin her down the moment she rematerializes - beware, you will need good accuracy to take advantage of your perception skills. Against the summoned horde, use the Cynetik Striker Cannon in order to thin it out quickly, or deploy one of the Ultimate Fire Modes (preferably, the Lightning Gun's Shocking Core). Vehicle Tactics The Summoner is one of the biggest threats to the vehicles because she can call in whole hordes of demons that may severely damage your vehicle before you can even get through to her. In addition, her energy blasts also do a lot of damage themselves. Thus it is urgent to kill her before she can summon anything. The GEV Tank's Main Cannon should kill her with a direct hit. Do not rely on the Machine Gun, as it is far too slow in killing her, and she will most likely end up escaping and eventually summoning a horde of demons to hide behind, making your life difficult. The energy shield may be necessary to save your Tank from excessive damage. The Cyclops will have an easier time. A direct hit from the Heavy Gauss Cannons is also an instant kill in this case. The Modulate Plasma Cannons will only take about 4 shots, and may be preferred against this enemy thanks to their rate of fire. Lastly, if you happen to get close to the Summoner, kick her at once to get rid of her decisively (the kick is also the best way to wipe out the summoned demons, as they will quickly swarm you). Category:Enemies Category:Demons